Key messages

On this page:

• Trends in fertility rates by location
• Trends in age-specific fertility rates
• Age of first-time mothers
• Ex-nuptial births
• Family size: number of children ever born
• Fertility and assisted reproductive technology

Trends in fertility rates by location

• The total fertility rate is the average number of babies a woman would have over her lifetime based on current age-specific fertility rates.
• The total fertility rate for Australia in 2023 was 1.50 (see Figure 1, chart 1 of 2), which is the lowest ever recorded. The previous lowest rate was 1.59 recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
• The total fertility rate of 1.50 in 2023 was a large decline from 1.63 in 2022. The recent fall is the largest annual movement since the declines of the early 1970s, which resulted in rates falling below replacement level.
• Since 1976, the total national fertility rate has been below the replacement level, which is about 2.1 births per woman.
• Replacement level is the level at which a population is replaced from one generation to the next without immigration. 
• Over the past 16 years there have been about 290,000 births per year. The number of 286,998 in 2023 is the lowest since 2006 (see Figure 1, chart 2 of 2). 

Figure 1: The total fertility rate has continued on a declining trend over the last decade, with the lowest level ever recorded in 2023
Total fertility rate in Australia, 1921 – 2023

• From 1976 to 2023, the total fertility rate has largely declined across all states and territories except for during 2001–2008 (see Figure 2). 
• Over the last decade it has been below replacement level for all states and territories.
• The rates fluctuate year on year across states and territories. In 2023, the rate ranged from a low of 1.31 in the ACT to a high of 1.57 in Western Australia. 
• Between 2022 and 2023 there was a drop in the total fertility rate for all states and territories except Tasmania, with the drop being greatest in the Northern Territory, Queensland and NSW. 

Figure 2: The total fertility rate continues to fall across all states and territories
Total fertility rate, by states and territories, 1975 – 2023

• The total fertility rate in very remote areas showed the steepest decline over the past decade (from 2.31 to 1.82) and is now lower than the rates in regional areas (see Figure 3). 
• The lowest rate continues to be in major cities. 
• The total fertility rate for each year by Remoteness Area represents the average of the total fertility rates over a three-year period to the end of the stated year (e.g. the average for 2021–2023 is represented by 2023).

Figure 3: The total fertility rate is lower in major cities than regional and remote areas
Total fertility rate by remoteness area, 2013 – 2023

• The total fertility rate varies across local government areas (LGAs), ranging from 0.60 (Adelaide, SA) to 4.02 (Cherbourg, Qld) (see Figure 4). The total fertility rate represents the average of the rates over the three-year period 2021–23.
• The 10 LGAs with the highest fertility rates (2.78 or higher) were: Bland, Bogan, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Temora, Walgett, Warren (all in NSW); Cherbourg, Doomadgee (Qld); and Wagin (WA). In all these LGAs, except Wagin, the proportion of women who were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander was higher compared to Australia as a whole (see Figure 4). 
• LGAs with the lowest fertility rates (below 1) included: Sydney (NSW); Melbourne, Port Phillip, Stonnington and Yarra (all in metropolitan Victoria); Adelaide (SA); Hobart (Tas); Burwood (Qld) and Perth and Ngaanyatjar (WA). 

Figure 4: Total fertility rate varied notably across LGAs
Total fertility rate, by Local Government Area (LGA), 2023

Trends in age-specific fertility rates

• The trends in fertility vary considerably when examined for different age groups, as shown in Figure 5.
• In 2023, the age-specific fertility rate was highest for women aged 30–34, followed by women aged 25–29 (see Figure 5). These 2 age groups also experienced the largest decline in the fertility rate. 
• The downward trend since 2008 for women aged 30–34 was in contrast with the upward trend over the decades before 2008. Fertility in the 25–29 age group has continued to trend downwards.
• In contrast, while off a lower base, the rates for women aged 35–39 and 40–44 have remained relatively constant over the same period.

Figure 5: Women in their early thirties continue to have the highest fertility rates since 2000
Births per 1,000 women, by age group, 1975 – 2023

• In 2023, the fertility rate was highest for women aged 30–34 across all states and territories. 
• In Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania and the NT, the age group with the next highest fertility rate was 25–29 years. For NSW, Victoria and the ACT fertility rates at 25–29 years and 35–39 years were more alike. See Figure 6.  
• The fertility rates for women aged 15–19 and 20–24 years were markedly higher in the NT than in other states or the ACT. 

Figure 6: There is some variation in age-specific fertility rates across states and territories
Births per 1,000 women, by age group and state/territory, 2023

Age of first-time mothers

• In 2022, women giving birth to their first child were most commonly in the age group of 30–34 years, followed by 25–29 years (see Figure 7). (Note that 2023 data are not available.) 
• The proportion of first-time mothers who were aged 40+ years increased more in one year to 2022 (from 2.8% to 3.2%) than in the previous 10 years (from 2.6% to 2.8%).
• Longer-term trends since 1991 show: 
  • the proportion of first-time mothers in the age groups under 30 years has declined 
  • the proportion of women having their first child at 30+ years has more than doubled (from 23% to 54%). 

Figure 7: Women are more likely to first become mothers from 30 onwards
Percentage of new mothers, by age group, selected years

Ex-nuptial births

• Consistent with the rise in cohabitation (see Families then and now: Couple relationships, 2020), the proportion of births outside of marriage has increased considerably since the 1970’s (see Figure 8, chart 1 of 3).
  • In 1975 only 10% of births were outside of marriage, compared to 40% in 2023.
  • The rate of births outside marriage stayed relatively steady between about 2008 and 2017, sitting at just over one-third of all births.
  • From 2017 there was an upward trend until 2022, holding steady in 2023.
• In recent data, most births outside marriage have paternity acknowledged, which means the biological father’s name, as well as the mother’s name, appears on the application for a birth certificate. 
• The proportion with paternity acknowledged among births outside of marriage has been between 88% and 91% over the last 2 decades. In 2023, 9 in 10 births outside marriage (90%) had paternity acknowledged.
• In 2023:
  • the proportion of babies born outside of marriage with paternity acknowledged ranged between 88% and 93% for all states and territories except the NT, where it was 70% (see Figure 8, chart 2 of 3)
  • the proportion of babies born outside of marriage decreased as age increased until mothers reached their mid-30s, after which it trended slightly upward – the inverse occurred for the proportion where paternity was acknowledged (though was far less pronounced) (see Figure 8, chart 3 of 3).

Figure 8: The proportion of births born outside of marriage has increased considerably since the 1970s
Ex-nuptial births as a proportion of all births, 1975 – 2023

Family size: number of children ever born

• The fertility data presented above focuses on births at different points in time to derive different rates of fertility. Another perspective on fertility is gained by looking at how many children women have had at different ages. Trends in the number of children that women aged 45–49 years have ever had provides insights into trends in complete fertility, given most women have completed their childbearing by these ages.
• The proportion having had 3 or more children has decreased over time, while the proportion having had none or one child has increased. Women aged 45–49 years in 1996 were born in 1947–51 and entered the childbearing stage when the contraceptive pill became affordable through the pharmaceutical benefit scheme, in 1972. This led to large families (3 or more children, especially 4 or more children) plummeting for this cohort and later cohorts.
• For women aged 45–49 years, having 2 children is the most common family size, with this having been the case for around 2 in 5 women since 1996 (see Figure 9). The stability of the proportion of women aged 45–49 years with 2 children likely reflects the common preference for 2 children as an ideal family size (e.g. Johnston, Lucke & Hewitt, 2021; Weston & Qu, 2004).

Figure 9: Women are having fewer children, with 2 children becoming the most common family size.
Completed fertility (number of children had ever had), women aged 45 – 49, by year

• In 2023, the fertility rate of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women was 2.17 births per woman, compared to 1.50 births for women in Australia overall (see Figure 10, chart 1 of 2). While the total fertility rate declined from 2022 to 2023 for all women, it remained stable for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women. (It is also worth noting that the total fertility rate for women born overseas was lower compared to women in Australia overall (1.36 vs 1.50 in 2023).) 
• The higher fertility rates for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women were especially apparent for women aged under 30 years, with the gap being particularly marked for those aged 20–24 years (see Figure 10, chart 2 of 2).
• In comparison, the fertility rates for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women in their thirties were slightly lower than those of all women of the same age.

Figure 10: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women have more children and at a younger age, compared to women in Australia overall
Total fertility rate, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women and all women, 2010 – 2023

Fertility and assisted reproductive technology

• The trends in fertility described in this report are clearly in the direction of women giving birth later in life. With this delay comes a heightened risk of having difficulty conceiving, such that families are unable to achieve their desired family size¹.  Access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is enabling many people to overcome their infertility or other barriers to having children.
• Available data from Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT indicate that the proportion of women giving birth as the result of ART has continued to increase over time and was 5.4% in 2021 for these 4 jurisdictions combined (see Figure 11).

Figure 11: The percentage of births conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART) has steadily increased over the last decade
Women giving births as a result of ART as a percentage of all women giving birth, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT combined, 2013 – 2021

¹ See Better Health Victoria website.